(OotP) CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: O.W.L.'s and Visions

The entire month leading up to the O.W.L.'s, Ellie kept her head down and focused on nothing but studying. Despite how much she'd learned with the B.A., she hadn't learned much that would apply to her actual examinations, and she had a lot to catch up on if she wanted any hope of decent marks.

She still met with the B.A. for lunch every day, but, of course, they could no longer practice safely in the Room of Requirement. Several of them had suggested having Ellie Apparate them somewhere off campus for their sessions, but she politely declined, suggesting that they all take a break from the intensity and focus on their studies.

"It's not going well, anyway," Luna admitted to them after accepting Ellie's suggestion. "With the listening in, I mean. Lucius and Aleks have both been working on their Occlumency, I think. Aleks is better at it than Lucius, but neither has given much away."

Ellie hadn't been to the recording studio in nearly a month. The singles she had released were doing well, and she was still in high demand for live shows, but she declined every time Noel sent word of a new offer. She was tired of it—tired of the costumes and the hair and the makeup—tired of singing to a group of strangers and silently begging them to love her.

She had achieved that love, and it hadn't given her what she hoped it would.

It hadn't been anything like being loved by Fred.

Finally, the time for O.W.L.'s was upon them. The first one was Charms, which was one of Ellie's strongest subjects. She walked away from both the written and practical examinations with confidence, certain that both her hard work and innate ease with the subject had gotten hear at least an Exceeds Expectations.

On the following day came the Transfiguration examination, which Ellie wasn't so confident about. Though Neville's recent research and skills in the areas of Conjuration and Vanishment had taught her some valuable lessons, neither subject was at the O.W.L. level; they were too advanced. She fared decently in the written half of the exam, having paid attention to McGonagall in class, but was less sure of how her practical examination went, having not practiced any of the spells heavily.

"Maybe you should have told them you're an Animagus," Liam teased her that evening when she reported back to the B.A. on how the day had gone for her. "Could have scored you a few bonus points."

She rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully, but honestly, she was just glad Liam was in a good enough mood with her to tease her. He could have chosen to resent her or treat her differently after she kissed him, but he never did. He was just the same old Liam—kind, caring, and supportive.

The third day of O.W.L.'s was Herbology day—one of Ellie's worst subjects. She had never had any real interest in the subject, and had only paid attention on days with particularly interesting or effective plants. She found herself drawing a total blank on at least ten of the plant names, and didn't fare much better when it came to describing their uses.

The fourth day was Defence Against the Dark Arts—a subject Ellie had always been fond of, yet, of course, had received a highly uneven education in. She had her concerns going into the exam about how she might fare, but, despite Umbridge's beady-eyed glare during both her written and practical examinations, she left both feeling quite certain she'd be receiving an Outstanding.

Friday was Ancient Runes, which Ellie had never taken and happily sat out. She tried to spend the day with the B.A., but got sidetracked when she received a very nasty letter from Noel.

Good luck on your O.W.L.'s. As a reminder, you have signed a binding contract with our label, and we have allowed you to take this break as a courtesy for the testing period. Following your completion of your final examination next Thursday, we expect you to return to us to complete your debut album and resume your public performances. If you do not, we may seek legal recourse.

He didn't scare her. For one thing, she was a minor whose parents had never signed a thing; for another, she could always threaten to go to his bosses about the ultimatum he had given her when she had first met him, right?

She dismissed all these thoughts and concerns in favour of a nice, quiet weekend in the Gryffindor Tower with her roommates, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Neville.

She wasn't alone, she reminded herself as she smiled at them.

They might not understand her like Fred did, but they had never left her, either.

Ellie hadn't spent much time with Snape since their Occlumency lessons drew to a close, but she had been paying more attention in class. She had been surprised to find, during those past few months, that she actually rather enjoyed Potions—and even tolerated Snape as a professor.

It was for that reason, most likely, that she left the Potions O.W.L.'s on Monday with a fair degree of confidence.

Tuesday was the Care of Magical Creatures examination—a subject that Ellie had always loved. From bowing to Hippogriffs to feeding apples to Thestrals—not to mention the unicorn Oliver had once taken her to see for a birthday present—she enjoyed interacting with, reading about, and getting to know such creatures. There were exceptions, of course—like Blast-Ended Skrewts, among others—but even those, she knew enough about to do well on her exam.

It was during her Wednesday morning exam—Astronomy—that things started getting complicated.

It wasn't the exam itself that was complicated—though it certainly wasn't easy, being one of Ellie's least favourite and toughest subjects. It was the activities that commenced outside the exam room—activities Ellie had a near-perfect view of through the window near her desk—that gave her pause.

There were people—five of them, all of whom were cloaked in garb that suggested they weren't Hogwarts students or professors—making their way to Hagrid's hut.

Ellie glanced at Harry, who was seated to her right and had an even better view of them than she did. He glanced back at her, eyes wide with fear.

When they reached Hagrid's hut, shouting began—though what was being said was unclear. Suddenly, Hagrid's front door burst open, lighting up the area in front of the hut so that Ellie could clearly see the five figures pointing their wands at him—out of which fired Stunning Spells.

Ellie gasped; Harry shot out of his seat. Other students in the exam room were noticing, too. Hagrid hadn't fallen—was brandishing his fists at his attackers and seemed to be cursing at them—but how was he supposed to handle himself one against five?

Ellie glanced down at her star chart. It was a mess, of course, but it probably wasn't going to get any better. If she Apparated now, she'd be sure to receive a detention or even an expulsion as a result, but would Hagrid be okay if she chose to walk on foot, instead?

Before she could make up her mind, a new figure approached. This one was cloaked in the familiar garb of a Hogwarts professor. The wand was unmistakably McGonagall's, as was the shrill voice that Ellie could almost make out saying something along the lines of "Leave him alone!" and "On what grounds…?"

Suddenly—sharply enough to cause Parvati, Hermione, and Lavender to all scream out loud—McGonagall was struck by four Stunning Spells.

Ellie's hand flew to her mouth as the entire exam room burst into an uproar. Even Professor Tofty seemed livid. Even with Hagrid holding his own just fine and making his escape, the injustice of what they had just witnessed was enough to make everyone's blood boil.

It wasn't just Ellie who was treated unfairly by Umbridge and her minions, she reminded herself. It wasn't just her and Harry, either. It was anyone at Hogwarts who dared believe in things as simple as common sense.

And something had to be done about it.

Ellie's final O.W.L. exam was History of Magic the following morning. It had been her least favourite subject for years, though it had sparked her interest from time to time when it came to things like researching Sirius Black and Rupert Bowman. She doubted she'd get much better than an Acceptable, but she didn't dread receiving her marks for the exam, either.

Just as she was rising to deliver her finished exam to the official at the front of the room, a sound emitted from Harry that made her freeze in her tracks.

He was in pain, but not just in pain. He was having another vision.

Ellie sprinted up to the front of the room, where she nearly threw her finished exam papers at the official, then dove back toward Harry.

"Miss Black," scolded Umbridge, who, of course, was also present. "Surely you know you can't approach a fellow student in the midst of his—"

"I'm done," Harry interrupted immediately, rising to his own feet to rush his papers up to the official. As soon as he was free of the papers, he ran back to Ellie, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out into the hall.

Ron and Hermione, of course, showed up seconds later.

"I had another vision," Harry told them in hushed tones. "He was in the Department of Mysteries. He was torturing Sirius."

Ellie froze. Time seemed to slow—everything seemed to slow.

If Voldemort had Sirius, there was no telling what he would do to him.

Ellie had somehow found a way to cope with living without Fred, but Sirius? Her own father, whom she had barely gotten the chance to know?

"No," she said, shaking her head. Luna, she thought desperately. Get over here. Get everyone. "That can't be happening."

"It could be a trap," Hermione said. "Harry, you really aren't supposed to be letting him into your head. He could have planted it there. He could have—"

"Everything okay?" came the dreamy voice of Luna as she floated over to them. Behind her, Ellie could already see the figures of the rest of the B.A. coming their way.

"You told them?" Harry asked Ellie, looking a mixture of confused and concerned.

"We have a link," she said impatiently. "Luna—this is important. Harry thinks he's heard that Voldemort is at the Ministry, torturing my dad. Can you tell if it's true or not?"

Luna closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows, clearly attempting to concentrate. After several seconds, she opened her eyes again, frowning. "I'm… not certain. He's definitely up to something, but he hasn't let Lucius in on his plan, and Aleks is keeping me out entirely."

At that, of course, Ellie's heart only started to pound harder.

"We have to go there," she told them. "We have to—"

"Just slow down for a minute," Hermione urged her. "We don't know anything yet. Is there any way we can confirm that Sirius really is missing? Send an owl, or—"

"I've got it," Ellie interrupted. "Give me two minutes."

And with that, she Apparated to 12 Grimmauld Place.

An empty 12 Grimmauld Place—save for one house elf.

"Kreacher!" Ellie shouted desperately, dropping to her knees in front of the elf. "Where is everyone? Are you alone here?"

Kreacher's giant, walnut eyes lifted towards hers, and for an instant, she thought she saw some flicker of uneasiness in them. But then they settled, and he said evenly, "Kreacher is alone. Master Sirius is at the Ministry of Magic."

That was as much as Ellie needed to hear. She Apparated back to Hogwarts, cursing every second of the way. As soon as her feet were on level ground, she repeated, "We need to go there. Now!"

"Ellie, please!" shouted Katie, who sounded every bit as concerned as Hermione had. "Just use your head and not your heart for one minute here, okay? Remember the promise we made—the promise you made to Dumbledore? We said we'd tell him before we did anything else like Azkaban again."

"We don't even know how to reach Dumbledore now that he's left Hogwarts," Harry reminded her. "And every second we wait is a second Sirius is being tortured."

"McGonagall, then," said Neville. "I could run to her office—"

"She's at St. Mungo's," Ron reminded him. "Because of the thing with Hagrid."

"The Order has to know," Hermione said firmly. "What's the fastest way for us to get a message to them?"

There was a clear answer—one that filled Ellie with both dread and exhilaration at the same time.

If Fred hadn't taken his potion—and she felt fairly confident at this point that he hadn't—then she still had the ability to cast thoughts into his head.

And judging from his involvement at Azkaban, he was a full-fledged member of the Order now; he could get the word to the others.

"I've got it," she said again—but softer this time. Meeker.

This wasn't such an easy task.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused—focused on all the many things she had spent the past seven months trying to block out. The way Fred looked; the way he smelled; the way he laughed; the way he felt—inside her head and out of it.

Fred?

The response wasn't instantaneous. For several seconds, she waited, breath held and heart pounding, until she started to fear the worst—that she had been wrong, and that he had taken his potion.

But then she heard him.

El?

A giant gasp of relief escaped her. She kept her eyes squeezed shut, clutching at Hermione's arm for support.

Voldemort has Dad at the Department of Mysteries. He's torturing him.

Another pause—a shorter one this time. Then, That doesn't make any sense. I just saw Sirius a short while ago. There's not—

Just tell the rest of the Order, she interrupted. We're going there now.

Ellie, no! Just hold on a minute! You can't just—

But at that, she forced him out.

"Come on," she said, reaching out her hands to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Liam, Katie, Neville, and Luna. She had never Apparated so many before, but she knew it would work; it had to. "Let's go save my dad."

Of course we all know Sirius is just fine, as Fred tried to warn her... but we have to get them there somehow, don't we? Any predictions on the differences that'll happen my go-round? I know we're all hoping I don't kill Sirius... guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out!